COSLA conference and exhibition 2024: First Minister's speech - 19 September 2024

Good afternoon, it’s a great pleasure to be with you today.  I am absolutely delighted that the COSLA Conference has found its way to Perthshire. It’s not quite managed to make it to the most beautiful part of Perthshire which is North Perthshire which I represent. But I can confirm that if there are to be boundary changes and Crieff was to be added to my parliamentary constituency, I will rapidly change my view.

As a Member of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government for many years, I have always taken the view that Local Authorities are vital in delivering public services and vital in improving the lives of people in Scotland. And that sentiment has anchored so much of the work that I have been able to take forward as a member of Parliament and also as a Minister in the Scottish Government. And I want to assure you that that’s the approach that I take forward as First Minister.

Now when I accepted the role of First Minister, I made it clear that I wanted my Government to be one that brought people together, that found common ground and consensus, and worked collaboratively to deliver a shared agenda and shared priorities.

I have sought to bring that work and that spirit of collaboration to Parliament – I have to confess it remains a work in progress. But I’ve also tried to do that in the engagement that we take forward with communities, across the different layers of government, from Westminster and also amongst local government.

I hope the change of UK Government improves the dialogue and engagement between the Scottish and UK Governments, and I have to say that that engagement is better now than it has been for a number of years.

Though I made that approach a starting point of my administration, it is an idea and an ethos that has long been held by this Government.

Indeed, one of the first priorities that I brought forward when I entered Government in 2007, was to build a more collaborative and cooperative relationship with local government that was founded on mutual respect and partnership.  One that was based on a shared responsibility for nurturing and improving the lives of the people of Scotland and the services on which they depend. 

Back in 2007, we established the concordat to set out that relationship.  It recognised the invaluable role local government plays in the governance of Scotland and the major contribution that local councils make to our shared priorities and our communities.

Last year, with The Verity House Agreement, the Scottish Government and local government renewed our commitment to that relationship and agreed to seek new ways of working together for an even more collaborative approach.

And just over two weeks ago, I published my Programme for Government.  It set out all that my government intends to accomplish in the next year. 

With priorities focussing on it eradicating child poverty, building prosperity, improving our public services, and protecting the planet.

Now those commitments represent – I believe –  the shared priorities that are entrenched in the Verity House Agreement.  And I hope provide the basis for a shared agenda to be developed between the Scottish Government and local government as we proceed through challenging times.

Time and again, in the Programme for Government, it is reiterated, the important role Scotland’s local government plays in the design and delivery of our shared agenda.

That is because national government should not seek to achieve any of these priorities by ourselves.  Nor should we wish to do so.

By ourselves, we are but half the picture.  Local government is the other half. Without each other, working purposefully together, Scotland cannot benefit from whole impact and endeavour of the work that we take forward as two different branches of government within Scotland.

Through that partnership, the frontline of so many services and support can be enhanced by effective cooperation between national and local government. It is the source of innovation, tailoring and flexibility. 

No one knows local communities – their needs, strengths and uniqueness any better than local government in Scotland. 

Put simply, the work of national government – what we hope to achieve, what I hope to achieve through the Programme for Government that I’ve set out to the Scottish Parliament – cannot be achieved without effective collaboration and partnership with local government in Scotland.

I would be the first to recognise the economic and fiscal challenges we  have faced in recent years  and we continue to face those economic and fiscal challenges. And, the government has been open with Parliament about the scale of the challenge that we face.

The impacts of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, and decisions by the UK Government have resulted in the most difficult financial times I have known since devolution.  And aging populations means the demand for many services and supports are only increasing.

Local government, like national government, has had to do more with less.  Time and again, we are all having to make difficult choices.

With such scarcity, it might be natural to think that there isn’t the scope or the resources to collaborate. But to that, I would argue that it is in fact the reverse.

To deliver excellent outcomes for our people and our communities, we absolutely must work in partnership.  Quite literally, we cannot afford not to work together, and not to work together effectively.

And in my view we have been doing so and as we look at the performance of the Verity House Agreement and the steps that have been taken to implement its provisions, there is in my view, the evidence of success in the way in which the Verity House Agreement has been taken forward, with some significant achievements in its implementation.

We collaborated on the development and delivery of the Whole Family Wellbeing Programme, including the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme.

We created the National Public Protection Leadership Group to improve the care and safeguarding of some of Scotland’s most vulnerable people.

We jointly delivered pay uplifts to at least £12 per hour for children’s social care workers and childcare workers delivering funded early learning and childcare in private and third sector services.

We collaborated on the new dementia strategy and the preferred model of the National Social Work Agency.

And last month, we delivered the Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship care.

These are but a few of the things we have accomplished in the Agreement’s first year in operation.

And if I have one ask of you today, it is that we continue to work together – both over the year to come and far into the future – to deliver, under the auspices of the Verity House Agreement, the shared agenda that I believe we have for the people of Scotland.

My commitment to you, on behalf of the Scottish Government, is that we will operate with respect for local government.

We will engage in early dialogue on our plans and priorities. We will take forward substantive engagements on the Budget process. And we will do all that we can to involve local governments in the creation of a common and shared agenda to improve the lives of people in Scotland.

The priorities set out in the Verity House Agreement and the Programme for Government reflect not only the biggest challenges that we face today, but also the greatest opportunities we have for investment in the future of Scotland as a diverse and a prosperous nation.

Nowhere is this more important than in our efforts to eradicate child poverty. And the approach that I intend to take to the work that we pursue in the eradication of child poverty is an illustration of how I wish to take forward, the work of collaboration between the Scottish Government and local government.

Across Scotland, national and local partners are working with their communities to provide effective whole family support in a place-based way that works for people.

None of us believe that the solutions to the challenges that face families who are living in poverty, will ever be resolved in one little compartment. You know from your work in local government the complexity of the solutions that are involved. What I want to do is ensure that that model of whole family support is more preferable in Scotland over the next twelve months than it is today, giving support and encouragement and motivation to the programmes of really good work that is taking place in some parts of the country, upon which we need to build in the period to come.

Over the coming year, we will work with local partners to enable greater local flexibility, so that services can be more easily tailored to the needs of the families and communities they support.  And so that the system as a whole is much easier to navigate.

We will look at what budgets can be pooled, what reporting can be streamlined, and whether greater investment can be delivered. And particularly in a targeted and focussed way.

We’ve set out in the Programme for government our intention to support innovation by expanding our Fairer Futures Partnerships to 5 additional local authorities - North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Perth & Kinross, Inverclyde and Aberdeen City.

We will design and deliver a new childcare offer, backed by £16 million over the next 2 years, within 6 Early Adopter Communities. These will be aligned with our place-based partnerships and offer easier access to the support that families require

We will also invest in a second round of our Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund, deliver the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund, and continue to invest in the third sector to provide the support for their essential work in delivering many of these commitments.

While all of these things are essential, at this time of unprecedented financial pressure, it is vital that they are part of a wider shift towards prevention and early intervention.

National government and local government must both be a part of this shift. The Christie Commission which I sponsored back in 201, was clear when it said that preventative public services are most effective when they are designed with and by local communities.

And crucially here innovation will be central to the agenda that we take forward. So there are many good examples of this work that is taking place in different parts of the country.

Last year, the work of East Renfrewshire Council with Smart Data Foundry, was supported and illustrated as part of the work that can be undertaken to support households that face difficulties and support them in their times of need.

So I hope in all that we can do, particularly through the reforms that I have set out around the pooling of budgets, the slimming down of reporting requirements and the focussing of the achievement of outputs will provide us with a basis that enables us to achieve more despite the financial pressures with which we are all wrestling.

And with that shift to early intervention we have the opportunity to work to contribute to making the public finances and public services more sustainable as a consequence.

Now I am acutely aware of the challenges that exist in relation to the funding of public services. And this issue commands the attention of all of us in government as we wrestle with the challenges that we face.

Now to address these pressures the Scottish Government has increased the share of the discretionary budget that we have at our disposal that is available for local authorities.

And comparing budget to budget, as we are required to by the Scottish Parliament, the Settlement has increased by £575 million in 2024-25 – equivalent to a 4.3% cash terms increase.  

Using COSLA’s preferred measure of comparing budget to the previous years’ outturn, the independent researchers at the Scottish Parliament confirmed last week that the settlement “increased by £176 million in real terms over the year.”

So whilst I recognise and acknowledge the financial pressures, the government is doing what it can to properly and fully support the funding of local authorities.

As I said earlier I am committed and the Finance Secretary is also committed to an engaged process of preparing the Budget so we understand and appreciate, and can reflect to the greatest extent possible, the financial challenges that are faced by local government in the setting of the Budget for 2025-26.

We have also taken extraordinary decisions to identify an additional £77.5 million in funding to support a significantly improved offer in local government pay negotiations.

I want to express my thanks to local government and to your negotiators for the collaborative and cooperative way in which we have worked together to try to get to a solution to the public sector pay demands within local government.

We have a fair amount of trade union support for the SJC pay deal and I welcome the SSCT support for the teachers’ pay deal. But there are outstanding issues on the SJC pay deal which remain to be resolved. But I can assure you of the government’s determination and commitment to work cooperatively with local government in taking all of these pay deals to a solution. 

Through the Verity House Agreement and the Fiscal Framework that will follow from the Verity House Agreement. We are working to advance the financial flexibility of local government.

In the 2019 Transport Act, we gave local government powers to introduce a workplace parking levy. Through secondary legislation, we increased limits for parking fines, giving you more flexibility to update levels according to your local interests and needs.

Last year, we enabled local authorities to charge 100% additional council tax on empty and second homes, in part to encourage more properties to become available for rent and a number of authorities have taken forward that approach and also to help address local housing pressures.

And today, I can announce that we are committed to increasing planning fees by the end of 2024 and revisiting these each year in step with inflation.

This will hopefully provide a much needed boost to planning authorities and help provide an efficient, effective and well-resourced planning system into the bargain.

There will also be more flexibility to allow planning authorities to extend the scope of discretionary charging as well.

Along with the recently announced Planning Hub, we are introducing a package of proposals that will support planning authorities to improve resourcing, skills and capacity.

Next year, we will introduce further supportive measures in relation to measures around the transition to net zero, including a fee category for hydrogen and fees for appealing planning decisions as part of that move.

In addition to financial flexibility, I can let you know that the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act, which COSLA called for and worked for, will come into force tomorrow. This legislation gives local authorities the most significant new tax powers since devolution.

It is the culmination of years of engagement, consultation and work. And I know it is an issue that has been subject to discussion at this conference already. I am grateful to local government for the positive engagement we have had as the Act was developed.

And it is already welcome to find local authorities exploring the opportunities that exist to take forward the implementation of the Visitor Levy Act at a local level in Scotland.

There are obviously a number of reforms proposals that have been discussed and come forward through the work we undertook with COSLA to jointly launch the local governance review

At its heart is the belief that decisions should be made at the most local level possible.  In our towns, our villages and our neighbourhoods.

The review is an opportunity to make transformative change at local level.  And as local elected leaders, you provide vital leadership here.

Our joint work on Single Authority models will bring a wider suite of functions more closely under local democratic control.

And I am pleased to announce that the findings from the Review’s “Democracy Matters” engagement process on the future of community decision making are also published today.          

And so I hope these steps that have been taken are welcome steps as we advance the context of the local governance review.

I’ll bring my remarks to a close and I very much welcome the collaboration and cooperation that we enjoy and that is envisaged under the Verity House agreement.

There are obvious challenges in solving difficult issues in a particularly challenging financial climate which we are all exposed to but what I can say to you, as the leaders of local governments, is that the Scottish Government will engage constructively, we will engage fully on the terms set out in the Verity House Agreement and in terms of the speech I have given to you today.

I firmly believe that it is only with government and leaders working together at local and national levels to deliver a shared agenda and a common purpose that we can hope to deliver for the people of Scotland.

If we want the best from our schools and public services,

If we want our businesses to prosper,

If we want to protect our climate and our environment,

If we want to eradicate child poverty,

If we want our local communities to grow and to thrive,

We absolutely must work together to make it happen.

I commit myself firmly to doing exactly that and look forward to taking forward these steps of common purpose and as part of our shared commitment to serve the people of Scotland.